The present invention relates to a system for automatic control, distribution and conveyance of food pellets from one or more food supply silos to fish within one or more pools or tanks.
In one common manner of feeding, food for the fish is loaded on a boat or a cart and carried to the different tanks, to be subsequently spread in appropriate amounts into the tanks. Feeding is usually accomplished twice a day.
According to another well-known procedure, the food is held in an automatically operated feeding silo mounted on a buoy over each tank. Each feeding silo is provided with a dispensing device comprising an electrically operated vibrator or screw conveyor which is controlled by a timer and a cooperating photoelectric cell.
These known methods have proved laborious and rather inefficient.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system for control, distribution and conveyance of food pellets from a single or a plurality of food supply tanks to fish kept in one or more pools or tanks, wherein the disadvantages of the well-known feeding methods are obviated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for control, distribution and conveyance of food pellets which can automatically determine required food amounts and distribute these required amounts to the appropriate tanks.
In accordance with these and other objects, the present invention comprises a sensing means for producing signals indicative of conditions within the tanks. The signals contain information from which the oxygen content of the tanks can be calculated. A control means receives the signals, calculates the amount of food required by each tank and outputs command signals indicative thereof. Storage means hold the food and release amounts of it in response to the command signals. The released food is passed to a weighing means which produces a signal indicative of the weight thereof. This signal is passed to the control means which produces a distribution signal indicative of the tanks to which the food is to be passed. A distribution means acts in response to the distribution signal to channel the food to the appropriate tanks.